Thus piercing the future, and
seeing that these simple, child—like men, who had nothing but what was given
them, were to be organs of
308the power of God to renovate humanity, that by
their preaching men, were to learn what human wisdom could never have
discovered, he poured forth the holy joy of his heart before God
in fervent thankfulness: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,558558 The Omnipotent Creator, who manifests himself as Father
in condescending to the wants of men, and in his self-revealing love.that thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes:559559 The
hiding from the wise and the revealing unto babes are closely connected together; it required child-like submission and devotion
to receive the
communications of the higher source, and therefore none could receive it but
such as, like children, in need of higher light, yielded themselves up to the
Divine illumination; and for the same reason, those whose imagined wisdom
satisfied them, because they were devoid of child-like submission, could not
receive the Divine communications.even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.560560 I think that ἐξομολογοῦμαι is not to be
repeated after ναί in v. 21; the latter
(like ἀμήν) is a
confirmation of the preceding passage, and a reason is assigned—“so it seemed good in thy
sight;” a
higher necessity, viz., the pleasure of God, made it so. These words form the
point of transition to the following verse, which contains the ground of the
preceding; viz., that the Son receives all by communication from God, but none
can know the Son except it be revealed to him by the Father.All things are delivered
to me of my Father;561561 That is,
according to the connexion, all power to carry on and develope the kingdom of
God victoriously, and to give eternal life to believers (John, xvii., 2). Christ
had previously said that the Divine power given to him should show itself in the
efficiency of his organs in spreading the kingdom of God.and no man knoweth who the Son is562562 For this mighty
power was granted to him in view of his original relations to God. (the true nature of the
Son) but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son
will reveal him.”563563 This
entire passage, which in Luke connects itself so naturally and closely with the
narrative, is placed by Matthew (xi., 25-27) in connexion with the woes
pronounced upon the unbelieving towns of Galilee.

After he had thus poured out his soul before God, he turned
to his disciples, and pronounced them blessed, because their eyes had
beheld that which the prophets and the pious had waited and longed for.564564 The passage in v. 23, 24,
forms an apt and fitting conclusion to what had gone before, both in form and
substance. The κατ᾽ ἰδίαν fits with the supposition that the disciples, on their
return, found Christ surrounded by one of those groups that frequently gathered
about him. The same words stand, also, in a clear connexion in Matt. (xiii., 16,
17), but not so close as Luke’s. Even the form of the words is
closely adapted to the occasion and the context. It is a question whether the
words “kings” or “righteous men” (as Matt. gives it) were the original one. The exchange may have
taken place because “kings” appeared foreign; or vice versâ, because
“righteous
men” appeared too indefinite. By the word “kings,” then, we must understand “the pious kings;” and the instance of a David
might have led Jesus to connect
“kings” with “prophets.” Thus the apparently insignificant disciples are
contrasted with men of the highest importance in the developement of the
Theocracy. There is no difficulty in supposing that Christ passed over from “prophets” to
“righteous me,” and then the adjective “many” (Matt., xiii., 17)
would be the more applicable.

The “seeing” and “hearing” are not to be taken, as Hugo à St. Victor long ago remarked, in an
outward sense, but spiritually, with reference to the truth revealed to them,
which had been veiled and, to some extent, hidden from those who occupied even
the highest place in
309the Old Dispensation. A conscious or unconscious
longing for the future revelation was their highest attainment.

558 The Omnipotent Creator, who manifests himself as Father
in condescending to the wants of men, and in his self-revealing love.

559 The
hiding from the wise and the revealing unto babes are closely connected together; it required child-like submission and devotion
to receive the
communications of the higher source, and therefore none could receive it but
such as, like children, in need of higher light, yielded themselves up to the
Divine illumination; and for the same reason, those whose imagined wisdom
satisfied them, because they were devoid of child-like submission, could not
receive the Divine communications.

560 I think that ἐξομολογοῦμαι is not to be
repeated after ναί in v. 21; the latter
(like ἀμήν) is a
confirmation of the preceding passage, and a reason is assigned—“so it seemed good in thy
sight;” a
higher necessity, viz., the pleasure of God, made it so. These words form the
point of transition to the following verse, which contains the ground of the
preceding; viz., that the Son receives all by communication from God, but none
can know the Son except it be revealed to him by the Father.

561 That is,
according to the connexion, all power to carry on and develope the kingdom of
God victoriously, and to give eternal life to believers (John, xvii., 2). Christ
had previously said that the Divine power given to him should show itself in the
efficiency of his organs in spreading the kingdom of God.

562 For this mighty
power was granted to him in view of his original relations to God.

563 This
entire passage, which in Luke connects itself so naturally and closely with the
narrative, is placed by Matthew (xi., 25-27) in connexion with the woes
pronounced upon the unbelieving towns of Galilee.

564 The passage in v. 23, 24,
forms an apt and fitting conclusion to what had gone before, both in form and
substance. The κατ᾽ ἰδίαν fits with the supposition that the disciples, on their
return, found Christ surrounded by one of those groups that frequently gathered
about him. The same words stand, also, in a clear connexion in Matt. (xiii., 16,
17), but not so close as Luke’s. Even the form of the words is
closely adapted to the occasion and the context. It is a question whether the
words “kings” or “righteous men” (as Matt. gives it) were the original one. The exchange may have
taken place because “kings” appeared foreign; or vice versâ, because
“righteous
men” appeared too indefinite. By the word “kings,” then, we must understand “the pious kings;” and the instance of a David
might have led Jesus to connect
“kings” with “prophets.” Thus the apparently insignificant disciples are
contrasted with men of the highest importance in the developement of the
Theocracy. There is no difficulty in supposing that Christ passed over from “prophets” to
“righteous me,” and then the adjective “many” (Matt., xiii., 17)
would be the more applicable.